Indiana vs. Louisville, College World Series

Bottom 9th; Joey DeNato authored the most legendary pitching performance in IU history on Saturday night. Complete game shutout. IU wins 2-0. More to come.

Bottom 8th: Joey DeNato looks tired. He’s over 130 pitches now, but he’s still dealing. He got his eighth strikeout in the inning, and even though he gave up a double to Adam Engel. He still got out of it. Eight scoreless innings. IU still leads 2-0.

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Top 8th: Indiana got a base-runner on an error in the third when Louisville center fielder Adam Engel misplayed a deep fly ball from Chad Clark, but Justin Cureon grounded out to end the inning. IU still leads 2-0.

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Bottom 7th: Joey DeNato broke the 100-pitch threshold in the seventh, and he’s starting to look it, but he’s still getting big outs. He walked the second batter he faced but retired the other three, striking out the last and coming off the mound with a fist-pump. IU still leads 2-0.

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Top 7th: Walks to Will Nolden and Scott Donley and a singing bunt by Sam Travis were enough to end Cody Ege’s day after 4 1/3, but Dace Kime got him out of the bases-loaded jam. He got IU shortstop Michael Basil to ground to a 5-3 double play to end the inning. IU still leads 2-0.

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Bottom 6th: Joey DeNato gave up a two-out single but cruised through the sixth otherwise, recording his sixth strikeout. He’s given up three hits in six scoreless and has thrown just 95 pitches.

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Top 6th: Cody Ege has been dominant since he stepped in the game for Louisville, striking out five batters and giving up just two hits in four innings. He pitched a 1-2-3 sixth. IU still leads 2-0.

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Bottom 5th: Louisville second baseman Zach Lucas singled to start the fifth, but was caught stealing on a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play. Joey DeNato also struck out catcher Stephen Crain and has five strikeouts in five innings against two hits and two walks. IU leads 2-0.

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Top 5th: Cody Ege recorded a pair of strikeouts in the fifht. Michael Basil was hit by a pitch but stranded after stealing second. IU still leads 2-0.

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Bottom 4th: After a 10-minute delay to deal with the fact that the home plate umpire left the game sick, Joey DeNato breezed through another 1-2-3 inning, striking out Coco Johnson and Jeff Gardner. IU leads 2-0.

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Top 4th: Indiana got runners on first and second in the fourth, but Will Nolden and Kyle Schwarber struck out to end the inning. Nolden got an unkind third strike call. Regardless, IU leads 2-0.

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Bottom 3rd: Let it be known. Indiana right fielder Will Nolden has a cannon. Shortstop Sutton Whiting tested it, trying to go from second to home on a single to right by Louisville right fielder Cole Sturgeon. Whiting had no chance and didn’t even both to slide. IU still leads 2-0.

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Top 3rd: Indiana didn’t max out on its third inning, but did score a run and did force Louisville coach Dan McDonnell to dig into his bullpen. Right fielder Will Nolden drew a walk to start the game. Catcher Kyle Schwarber followed with a single and then firt baseman Sam Travis drew a walk. Louisville left-hander Cody Ege then came in for Chad Green. Ege got IU’s Scott Donley to pop up to third, but IU shortstop Michael Basil followed with a single to left to score Nolden. Kyle Schwarber was waved home, however, and thrown out by left fielder Coco Johnson.

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Bottom 2nd: Joey DeNato cruised through a 1-2-3 second inning and struck out Zak Wasserman to end it. IU leads 1-0. DeNato, who struggled with control last time out, has thrown 18 of 28 pitches for strikes.

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Top 2nd: IU second baseman Chad Clark drew a two-out walk but Chad Green struck out Casey Smith and then Justin Cureton to leave Clark on first. IU still leads 1-0.

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Bottom 1st: Joey DeNato walked Louisville leadoff hitter Adam Engel, which is a problematic mistake to make considering he’s stolen 41 bases this year. However, after Louisville right fielder Cole Sturgeon bunted him to second, DeNato got the next two hitters to fly out to center. IU center fielder Justin Cureton made a great play on the first and his throw to third kept Engel from advancing. IU leads 1-0.

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Top 1st: Indiana almost ran itself out of an inning in the first but managed to score in spite of a base-running blunder. With runners on first and second and first baseman Sam Travis attempting a bunt, right fielder Will Nolden strayed too far of the bag and was picked off going to third. Catcher Kyle Schwarber took second on the throow however, and designated hitter Scott Donley drove him in with a single to give IU a 1-0 lead.

16 comments

So it seems if the ump was calling balls and strikes wide in order to get to the end of the inning quicker so he could get treatment. That seems a little unfair to the Hoosier kids to me. If he is needing to be substituted out of the game, call a timeout, and don’t help Louisville get out of another early jam by calling unhittable balls as strikes.

Helluva game, boys! Our bats weren’t even hitting on all cylinders and we were in control from start to finish. It’s scary how good we can be if we put pitching like that together with the offense we’re capable of. Still haven’t lost in the NCAA’s. Amazing.

Wow…just wow!! DeNato reminded me (both last week and tonight) of ex-Cubs greatest, Greg Maddux. He throws sooo much junk up there the batter can’t tell the difference between the junk and the ‘collectibles’ that the batter forgets the count between the first and the sixth pitch of his own at-bat.

Great feat we will literally be telling our grand kids about! Unbelievable! Full nine!…only last week some were questioning why Coach Smith was sending De Nardo against FSU to open the series. This is why!…you can’t beat a heart that beats as strong as DeNardos!

Sorry, exuberance and confusion made me do it. Our great pitcher, DeNato became NCIS character Anthony DiNardo between my first and last paragraph in the comment. NCIS’s Tony DiNardo only wishes he were Hoosier pitcher Joey DeNato and had his (by now) less than 2.5 ERA (and likely below 2.0 in the NCAA tournament).